Siegelman unseats James in Alabama race
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Don Siegelman
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(AllPolitics, November 3) -- Democrat challenger Don Siegelman defeated incumbent Gov. Fob James to win the Alabama governorship Tuesday in a race highlighted by political sparring over the lottery and education.
The lottery was a major issue in this race. A former state attorney general and secretary of state, Siegelman, the state's lieutenant governor, made a state lottery for education the foundation of his campaign.
James opposed the lottery. "If it ever comes to a vote of the people, I will do everything in my power to get you to vote it down," James said at campaign rallies. "It is wrong, it is cheap, it doesn't work."
James turned up his negative attacks on Siegelman in the final week of the campaign, when a statewide poll showed Siegelman holding a big lead, as he hammered away at the governor on education. That poll showed Siegelman to be the favorite of 57 percent of independents, 33 percent of Republicans, 88 percent of blacks and 54 percent of whites. Twelve percent of Democrats said they would vote for James.
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Fob James
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James had shown resilience in the past. Polls showed him in a virtual dead heat leading up to the June 30 GOP runoff, but he won that race with 56 percent of the vote to businessman Winton Blount's 44 percent.
Both James and Siegelman faced well-financed opposition from gambling interests in the general election.
Money was also a significant factor. While James was spending his war chest to fend off Blount in the primary, Siegelman was stashing away millions and ended up with eight times more cash on hand than James. Siegelman raised more than $4 million for his campaign and was backed by a unified Democratic Party, making him a very formidable opponent for the governor.
Another key was whether James could hold on to the GOP vote, or whether moderates would decide to stay at home or cast their ballots for Siegelman.
James, a college football star who played professional football, was first elected governor as a Democrat in 1978 but didn't win again until he switched to the GOP in 1994.
But he has had a controversial term, and he is known more for things like his advocacy of prayer in schools than for economic achievements. He became an endangered incumbent when he lost support of the Alabama business community. James kept close ties with the religious right and he once threatened to call out the National Guard to keep the Ten Commandments on a courtroom wall.
James drew a primary challenge this year, and Blount, who ran unsuccessfully in the GOP primary four years ago, forced the sitting governor into a runoff.
Some Democrats, including leaders in the African-American community, had urged their allies to vote for the politically moderate Blount rather than the down-the-line conservative James, but that effort may have created a pro-James backlash among Republicans and conservatives. James won the runoff and the GOP nomination.
Siegelman portrayed himself as a moderate who was familiar with the state and who was a familiar figure for Alabama voters. But James and the GOP tried to paint the lieutenant governor as just another liberal and they questioned his background, including his military record.
Bill Harris, executive director of the state GOP, said Siegelman's "shady military career" deserved to be made an issue. Rick Dent, a Siegelman campaign aide, called the release of the military records a "Republican smear campaign" intended to suggest falsely that mental problems led to Siegelman's discharge.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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